OSU coach taking new fame in stride

Published: Wednesday, July 23, 2008

DON WILLIAMS

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Revisiting the rant that made him a YouTube celebrity, Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy didn't take back anything he said after the Texas Tech game last year. He wished only that he had said it a little more quietly.

A very calm Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy discussed his famous rant from last season for reporters on Tuesday in Kansas City, Mo.

"The only thing is that my volume level as it went on increased,'' Gundy said Tuesday during day two of the Big 12 Conference football media days. "My volume increased during it and the reason why, I think, is my anger grew. If I had to do it all over again, I would have kept it to a monotone level, and maybe that would have decreased some of the coverage I got from that - or the popularity, I should say.''

After his team beat Tech 49-45 last September, Gundy spent his entire post-game media session making scathing remarks at a newspaper columnist who had been critical of quarterback Bobby Reid, who has since transferred.

It's been downloaded over and over.

"Somebody told me I ended up sixth overall on YouTube total hits last year,'' Gundy said. "That's pretty good. I've yet for anybody to give me a way that I could get like a kickback off that.''

OSU quarterback Zac Robinson said Cowboys players appreciated that Gundy stood up for them, but otherwise it was a dead issue for them within days.

Not so with everyone else.

"Nobody really talked about it,'' Robinson said, "except for the media obviously, and it's always on TV. I saw the ESPY awards the other day, and it was even on there.''

Oklahoma State fans would rather Gundy do less shouting about critical columns and more about big victories after the Cowboys posted a second straight 7-6 season last year, which was Gundy's third as head coach.

If it plays out that way, Robinson - the quarterback who took Reid's job - will have plenty to do with it. A 6-foot-3, 210-pound junior, Robinson was one of two major-college quarterbacks - the other was Heisman Trophy winner Tim Tebow - to have at least 800 rushing yards and 2,800 passing yards in 2007.

Robinson threw for 2,824, had a touchdowns-to-interceptions ratio of 23-to-9, and rushed for 847 yards and nine TDs.

Gundy said he would have been happy several times to see Robinson run out of bounds after he'd gotten yardage sufficient for a first down, but that's not Robinson's nature.

"I've been taught get what you can get and help the offense move the ball however you can,'' Robinson said. "I've never been one to shy away from contact, and sometimes I almost embrace it a little too much. When I play football, I'm having the time of my life. I try to never hold anything back. Sometimes that can hurt me, but that's just the way I approach the game.''

Oklahoma State, which visits Tech on Nov. 8, returns eight starters on offense, including most of a line that gave up a league-low 11 sacks. In terms of bodies, the Cowboys lost little on that side of the ball. In terms of production, they lost a ton. Gone are all-Big 12 running back Dantrell Savage and second-team all-Big 12 receiver Adarius Bowman.

Even with Savage, the Cowboys used multiple backs, and Gundy said he expects the Cowboys to get 2,000 yards rushing again, this time from returnees Kendall Hunter and Keith Toston and junior-college transfer Beau Johnson. Hunter, a scatback, ran for 696 yards, averaging a team-high 6.5 per carry, and Toston had 631 the year before.

Former blue-chip recruit Dez Bryant (43 catches, 622 yards, six touchdowns), now a sophomore, needs to continue to develop for the Cowboys' offense to match last year's No. 7 national ranking and its 35.4-point average against the Big 12. The Cowboys also have a capable tight end in senior Brandon Pettigrew.

Oklahoma State's 101st-ranked defense didn't get the job done last year, giving up 483 yards and 33 points a game to Big 12 opponents.

Thanks to recruiting efforts, Gundy said there's better depth in the defensive line, more speed at linebacker and a helpful cover corner in Maurice Gray, who was part of a national championship team at Butler (Kan.) College.